


To Be A Master

by benicemurphy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24171277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benicemurphy/pseuds/benicemurphy
Summary: It’s the final battle to decide who will be the Pokemon Champion!(and it’s Katt so they’re super dorky while they do it)
Relationships: Matt Holt/Keith
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	To Be A Master

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caeulio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/caeulio/gifts).



> This work is for Narc, who requested a Katt childhood friends Pokemon AU! This was super fun and I got super carried away with it. Also, thank you to C and Cruel for helping me come up with the teams and listening to me talk about it too much <3

“Choose wisely. Your first Pokemon is special.”

Keith reaches out for the pokeball in the middle. He’s done his research already. He’s been waiting for this day since he and Matt both decided, at the ripe old age of five, that they were going to grow up and become Pokemon masters together.

“Torchic, eh?” Professor Holt gently teases. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Torchic is the best attacker of the three,” Keith defends, matter-of-fact. “Plus, it’s a fire type. Which is cool.” He shrugs.

Matt, who has been sitting patiently (vibrating out of his skin) while he waits his turn, grabs the ball on the right from the table. “Ha! I’m just gonna pick Mudkip and beat you! I’ll extinguish your Torchic!”

Professor Holt reaches over and gently takes the ball from Matt’s hand.

“Actually, son, I have a special Pokemon in mind for you.” He replaces the ball he just confiscated with one he detaches from his belt.

Matt’s face falls, then lights up. “What is it, Dad?”

“Open the ball and find out,” Professor Holt says with a wink.

There’s a click and a beam of light as Matt’s new Pokemon emerges from its ball.

“It’s... Mr. Mime?” Matt turns a questioning look upon his dad, confusion clear in his expression. “Why?”

Professor Holt crouches down to speak with Matt on his level.

“Mr. Mime is a hard Pokemon to master, Matthew. But if anyone can do it, it’s you. Besides,” he adds, standing to his full height and clapping a hand on Matt’s shoulder, “I know you two will form a very special bond. Mr. Mime is a bit of an oddball, too.”

Keith can’t stop the giggles that burst out of him. He tries and fails to hide them behind his hand. Matt swats at him.

“You won’t be laughing when I kick your butt!” he exclaims. “You’ll see! I’ll be the Champion one day!”

Matt dashes out of the lab and out into the world. Keith follows close behind.

“Whatever, oddball!” Keith shouts at his retreating back.

Behind them, from the door of his lab, Professor Holt calls, “Be careful, you two! Look out for each other!”

_______________________

Seven years later, Matt is the youngest Pokemon Champion of all time. He’d struggled through the first two gyms, Keith overtaking the Grass and Bug gyms easily while Matt fumbled his way around Mr. Mime’s unique moveset.

He’d been frustrated for a long time with his dad’s choice for him, but as with all things, Matt had studied his way through his problems and, with the addition of two more Pokemon he’d met along the way, became a serious force to be reckoned with.

Even Keith has to admit that he’s good. After blazing past him initially, Keith had hit a rough patch facing Water, Rock, and Ground-type trainers that taught him that raw strength doesn’t always work. He’d started honing his skills after that, but at that point, Matt had the advantage in type training and special defense.

Now, though, Keith knows he has him. He feels it with everything he is.

It’s been a while since they’ve seen each other; Matt has been the Champion for about eight months, and before that, they hadn’t been in the same place for at least another six.

Admittedly, Keith’s excitement is about three-quarters eagerness to finally kick Matt’s ass and claim his rightful place at the top, and one-quarter giddiness to see his best friend again after too long apart.

But yeah, the kicking his ass part is _definitely_ more prominent.

“So I see you finally made it!” Matt calls from his absolutely ridiculous throne at the far end of the arena. “It’s about time. I thought I’d have to grow old all by myself up here.” He strokes his baby-smooth chin as he looks down on Keith, who wastes no time approaching the throne.

Keith scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, that’s some beard you’ve grown there, you old fart.”

“I know,” Matt says seriously, “I’m impressed you can still recognize me.”

There’s a brief silence before Matt hops down and scoops him into a tight hug.

“Missed you, buddy,” he says. “It’s true what they say — it’s lonely at the top.”

Keith huffs a laugh and hugs him back. “Missed you, too.”

They pull back, and Keith is really able to take him in. His hair has gotten long over the past year and a half, and he’s not wearing his glasses anymore. There’s a thin scar on his cheek that makes him look far more rugged and masculine than he is.

“You look good,” he says.

“You too,” Matt says. A wicked smirk spreads across his face. “Those jeans are really working for you.”

Keith swats at him but misses, head thrown back in a laugh so he can’t see where he’s aiming.

“I hope your Pokemon can fight better than you!” Matt goads as he heads to his starting position.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Keith assures. He takes his place at the opposite end of the arena.

They’re pretty evenly matched, at first. Matt takes down his first two Pokemon with ease, but Keith’s third Pokemon wipes out Matt’s first three before going down itself at the hands of Matt’s Magneton.

Admittedly, Keith is frustrated. He’d expected Talonflame to last a bit longer; Magneton is a new and unexpected addition to Matt’s roster, and it’s thrown off his game plan.

“Betcha weren’t expecting that, were you?”

Keith withdraws his fainted Talonflame and tries not to let it show on his face how exactly right Matt is.

“I wouldn’t brag too hard about that Magneton, if I were you,” he says instead.

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Matt, they literally evolve from three Magnemite who are so stupid, they stick themselves together.”

Matt gapes, then throws his head back and cackles. “Fair point!” he concedes. “But you still have to beat it.”

Keith shrugs. He had been planning on saving his next Pokemon for later, but he knows Matt’s last two Pokemon, and he can’t risk either of his others fainting before he faces them. He pitches the pokeball onto the battlefield and watches with pride as Arcanine emerges, large and proud.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” he says. “Arcanine, use Flare Blitz!”

It’s a risky move that Keith doesn’t like to ask Arcanine to use when he can avoid it, but it does its job. Magneton is already worn down from the first couple of hits from Talonflame, so it’s not strong enough to resist the brute strength of Arcanine’s assault. Arcanine wobbles a little as she returns to her place on Keith’s end of the field, and Keith immediately regrets his recklessness. He’ll make it up to Arcanine later.

“Good job, girl,” he tells her. “You’re gonna get special treats tonight.”

Arcanine barks once and wags her tail, but returns to focus when Keith gestures toward the other end of the field, where Porygon2 is emerging from its ball.

Keith can’t help but smile. It’s the perfect Pokemon for Matt: a literal computer program that he was able to mold to his exact needs with the help of his computer genius little sister. Pidge has never been the Pokemon trainer type, but as a researcher, she’s already contributing valuable information to Professor Holt’s lab and will likely take it over from him someday.

His smile morphs into a scowl nearly instantly. Porygon2’s Conversion makes it basically invulnerable to fire attacks, which leaves Keith in bad shape, especially since there’s no visible way to see which typing it has taken on. All Keith knows is that fire attacks won’t do much to it, if anything.

“Okay, Arcanine. We’ve got this,” he says. His Pokemon are strong. They’ll figure it out. He just needs to be smart about this. “Use Extreme Speed.”

The move isn’t just fast, it’s _strong_ — when Porygon2 barely flinches, Keith grins. It’s not looking good for Arcanine, but now he knows how to beat it.

Across from him, he sees Matt come to the same conclusion.

“Arcanine, return!” Keith calls. He takes a moment to whisper his praise into her pokeball before he returns it to his belt and sends out his next choice. “Go, Blaziken!” Matt pales, which is quite a feat considering he’s already a pasty nerd as is.

Blaziken bursts from its ball with impressive speed. Keith has cultivated a team that is both strong and fast, and he’s been training with speed as his best chance at beating Matt.

It’s still crazy to think of this as a match to decide who will become (or remain) the Pokemon Champion. Keith fondly remembers all of the stupid shenanigans they’ve gotten into over the years: that time Matt bet him that he could get all the way through the longest cave in the region with only one Pokemon (and a Jigglypuff, at that), and Keith had to bail him out by fighting all of his battles for him and healing his Jigglypuff several times; or that time Keith got tangled up with a street gang who tried to initiate him even though he had on his best resting bitch face, and they only left him alone after Matt pretended to be both a cop and Keith’s dad (that one had them laughing for a long time). He still remembers Matt as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed four-eyes with a heart and eyes of gold. Most of those things are still true, of course, but now he’s hot and self-assured and mature in a way that only fighting his way to the top all by himself could make him.

“Alright, Porygon2, use Rain Dance!” Matt calls. Water starts to come down all around them, dampening both the physical playing field and the effectiveness of Keith’s Pokemon’s moves — most of them, anyway. Keith curses.

“Oh yeah, I got my hands on a couple of new TMs since the last time we saw each other,” Matt gloats. “Did I strategically arrange my moveset to oppose your strongest Pokemon? _Perhaps_.”

“Oh my god, you’re so fucking petty,” Keith laughs.

Matt scoffs. “As if you didn’t already know this about me. I said I’d extinguish you, and I am nothing if not a man of my word, Keith.” He sniffs haughtily and then cracks, grinning goofily at him in that earnest and dorky way of his.

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Matthew. Blaziken, Double Kick!”

The first kick misses as Porygon2 expertly maneuvers out of the way, but the next one lands. Porygon2 is hit with a barrage of kicks that has it on the ground by the time Blaziken has finished its move.

“Shit,” Matt spits. “When did you get good at strategy? What happened to Keith Brute Force Kogane?”

“Matt, you’re the smartest guy I know. Brute force has never worked on you.”

Porygon2 whirls and whistles where it lies. Blaziken needs to get in another good hit, and then there will just be one last Pokemon between Keith and the Championship.

“My poor Pokemon,” Matt laments. “I’m gonna owe Porygon2 another major upgrade after the beating your rude-ass Blaziken is laying down.”

Keith would almost feel bad if that wasn’t like, the entire fucking point.

“One last hoorah, Porygon2, and then we’re gonna get you back to the lab, I promise. Use Hyper Beam, and make sure it hits!”

“Dodge!” Keith calls, but even severely weakened, Porygon2 is able to make the necessary calculations and aims a massive Hyper Beam at Blaziken. It’s knocked down and a little scatterbrained, but gets up and lands a Low Kick that finishes off its opponent.

Matt grumbles as he recalls Porygon2. “Well, I still have my tried and true. My ride-or-die. My main squeeze. My—”

“Oh my god just send him out.”

Mr. Mime appears in all his glory, proud and strange and doing his funky little mime dance.

“Hey, buddy,” Keith says. Mr. Mime wiggles his fingers in a wave.

Then he launches the fiercest Psychic attack Keith has ever seen, immediately K.O.ing his prized starter.

“What the hell was that?!”

“Oh yeah, Mr. Mime has really been working his mental muscles. He’s a real badass.” Matt’s smirk is wicked. _Of course_ he still had something like this up his sleeve.

What Matt doesn’t know is that Keith has also been preparing for this fight, and Matt has never met the latest addition to Keith’s team — the reason he’s been away for so long and out of communication with his best friend and greatest rival.

He doesn’t say anything else, just launches the pokeball and lets his Pokemon speak for herself.

Matt’s jaw drops.

“ _What_?”

“You didn’t think I’d leave your skinny ass behind for _nothing_ , did you?” Keith is immensely proud of his Pokemon. He worked hard to find and catch her, earn her trust and train her, and over the past fourteen months, he’s developed a bond with Marowak so strong that he barely has to coach her in battle.

“You went to the Alolan region and didn’t _tell me_?”

“What’s that thing you always say?” Keith asks, fake pondering. “Oh yeah, there’s no theater in that.”

“Oh my _god_ , Keith.” Matt throws his hands in the air. “You picked a hell of a time to finally start listening to my words of wisdom.” He crosses his arms over his chest petulantly, grumbling to himself. “Runs off to Alola without telling his best friend and has the nerve to come back looking all sexy and chiseled. Asshole.”

“I can _hear_ you!” Keith grouses. Now is absolutely not the time to get into the very complicated things he feels for Matt.

Keith can see Matt’s blush from across the arena. “Well, you weren’t supposed to!”

“Just make your move!”

“Dazzling Gleam!” Matt shouts. Mr. Mime waves his creepy fingers, and the air around them begins to glow and sparkle, amplified as it bounces off the rain still falling and reflecting off of the wet ground. Marowak tries to shield her eyes from the glare, and that’s the moment Mr. Mime chooses to make an attack that completely blindsides Marowak.

Keith nearly growls. A Fairy-type move should have barely affected her, but that was a cheap shot. “It’s okay Marowak, shake it off. You’re okay.” Marowak gets up and does just that. “Alright. You know what to do.”

Immediately, all of the light is sucked out of the room as everything is doused in shadows. There’s a moment of total darkness, and then a blast of light as Mr. Mime is pummeled with the Shadow Ball and everything comes back into view.

“ _Holy shit_ ,” Matt breathes. “You’ve only had Marowak for what, a year? Maybe a year and a half? How the hell is she so strong?”

Keith shrugs. “Maybe I’m just a good trainer. Ever think of that?”

“Psh.” Matt waves him off. “I always new you’d be my downfall, Keith. I just didn’t think you’d do it so fast.”

He waves his hand at Mr. Mime, and Mr. Mime launches into another Psychic. Marowak barely flinches, already braced for the attack.

“I’ll get you some really awesome treats after this, I swear,” Matt tells Mr. Mime. Mr. Mime shoots him a thumbs-up behind his back.

“I’m sorry about this,” Keith tells Mr. Mime. “It’s nothing personal. I’ll buy.”

Mr. Mime shrugs and mimes a bring-it-on motion. Marowak does.

The fight is over so quickly, it’s almost anti-climactic. Matt presses the button that signals the end of the battle, and the arena begins to repair itself. The rain stops, the excess water soaking into the turf, and any damage done to the ground smooths itself over. The rest will be repaired by the maintenance staff before the night is over.

“Well, we put up a good fight,” Matt says. “Can’t say I wasn’t hoping to put up a _better_ fight, but,” he shrugs. “Oh well. At least now I don’t have to sit in this chair all day.”

Keith laughs. “You’re not going to trick me into conceding my title. I’m the Pokemon Champion now. Say it.”

Matt pouts. “Don’t make me!”

“Say it!” Keith pokes him in the side, making him wiggle and squirm out of reach.

“You’re the Champion! You’re the Champion!”

“Damn right I am.

Matt stretches his arms high above his head as they make their way outside. “I still can't believe you crossed the ocean without so much as a postcard.”

“Oh, uh, actually...” Keith rifles through his pack and pulls out three postcards. “I couldn't send them at the time because you would have figured out what I was up to,” he offers sheepishly. “But yeah. I missed you.”

Matt looks like he's on the verge of tears. “I missed you, too, Keith. A lot.” He pulls Keith into a tight hug, surprisingly at ease for a guy who was dethroned like, five minutes ago. “And by the way, I meant what I said. You did come back all sexy and grizzled,” he smirks.

Keith shoves him sideways. “Whatever.” Then, cautiously, he asks, “You wanna grab a coffee or something?”

Matt grins. “Depends, can I kiss you after?”

“We'll see,” Keith says. “Maybe if you can beat me there.”

He takes off at a dead sprint, and Matt trails behind, complaining all the way.


End file.
